How To Stay Healthy While Working From Home

Recent years saw a seismic shift in the way many people work. At-home work might have begun out of necessity, as workplaces scrambled to react to a novel virus, but it has become a new kind of normal.

Company owners, seeing the money they can save on commercial space, are starting to view working from home not as a response to the pandemic – but as an opportunity to rethink their company model.

This all happened rather quickly.

Although working from home has its undisputed perks (cutting out that commute is chief among them), it also has drawbacks. Namely, working from home has blurred the lines between work and home.

Whereas before, going to the office was a natural part of your daily routine, nestled somewhere between your morning workout and afternoon relaxation time, now, you may find it more challenging to care for your health and wellbeing.

In other words, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to your health. If you’re one of the many people who work from home, consider the following tips to help you stay physically and mentally healthy.

Get Proper Rest

As readers of this website know very well, proper rest is an essential part of overall health and wellbeing. Adults need 7 or more hours of sleep a night, and too little sleep affects your focus, mood and immune system.

The best tip to offer here is to create a clear division between workspace and rest space. Do not work from your bedroom if you can help it; the only association you should have with your bedroom is as a place of rest. And to the extent you’re able, limit your screen time in the evenings. Leave your work laptop or phone outside of the bedroom.

Take Frequent Breaks

There’s a reason the general workday structure includes coffee breaks and meal breaks: people tend to function better when they take short moments of rest. Breaks help you recharge and keep stress from building up.

During these breaks, you should give yourself a chance to relax. You can play online games like solitaire online to unwind.

Work burnout and stress can be detrimental to your health, so be sure to take frequent breaks. If it helps, you can systematize your break schedule by following a Pomodoro Method (essentially a repeating cycle of intermittent work and rest periods).

Try New Superfoods

Diet plays a critical role in general health – that’s a fairly well-established fact at this point. Getting your daily dose of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats can keep you feeling your best (even as the lunchtime temptation to order something unhealthy lingers).

Some people also add functional mushrooms such as lion’s mane and reishi, which are popular in the wellness industry right now. Human research on them is limited and mostly small, so don’t expect proven benefits for focus, immunity or stress.

Mushroom supplements and blends are not approved by the FDA for safety or effectiveness before they are sold, so check with your doctor first, especially if you take medications. If you enjoy the taste, a mug of reishi mushroom coffee can be an occasional treat.

Designate Time for Exercise

Together, a healthy diet and exercise form the essential pillars of physical and mental wellbeing. If you observe one but not the other, you have an incomplete health regimen.

But working out while working from home can be tricky. It’s challenging to leave the house for exercise when you have no other reason to leave the house. Here, again, is why routine is so important. Adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days. Try designating time each day for exercise.

Humans crave structure and routine, so building your active time into your schedule may help you stay on track.

The exercise can take whatever form you prefer: at-home yoga, runs around the neighborhood, visits to the gym, or even a regular salsa dancing class!

Optimize Your Workspace for Ergonomics

Let’s explore spinal health briefly. Moving from the office to home, you might wonder why your posture and muscles are suffering. It all has to do with ergonomics.

Most companies fit their workplaces with ergonomic equipment like office chairs, keyboard wrist rests, and, in some offices, standing desks – luxuries that your home office lacks. Luckily, you can correct your home workspace (and your posture, by extension) by buying the products listed above.

Ask your work to help pay for the equipment (citing productivity gains), but if they won’t, you should still consider getting these items as an investment in your health.

Don’t let your health slip away from you as you make the shift to at-home work. Just because your days are no longer structured around the office, it doesn’t mean your days have to be structureless. Get a good night’s rest, take frequent breaks, build exercise into your schedule, and keep your spine healthy with ergonomic office equipment.

Sources

• About Sleep, CDC
• Adult Activity: An Overview, CDC